Happy New Year

If I go by Australia time then 2007 started at 7am. Which means the beginning of my 2007 has been shit. Now I usually have a hate for new years celebrations and all that but it's only ever been for the night itself. This morning started off bad. Em comes down to my bed just after 7am, her new thing, which didn't worry me because cuteness gets you away with a lot and Pat eventually came and got her. So I finally got back to sleep and I wake up to this god awful banging which I finally worked out to be a ball and it pissed me off, so I came upstairs and asked for it to stop. A friggin basketball may not sound loud on the level your bouncing it on but try going stairs one day when it's happening, sounds like a fucking elephant on the floor. So it all goes silent and I figure that they've gone out and the next thing I know the phone rang. Can I also add it wasn't even 10am on a Sunday morning?? Sunday's are sacred. Phone usage shouldn't occur until after 10am unless your arm's on fire or you're lying in the hospital. People shouldn't be dressed until at least after 11am, unless you're going to go to brunch or the beach or a market or something very relaxing. Yes, Sunday's are my favourite day. They're my exceedingly lazy day. So my sacred Sunday, the last Sunday I will ever get in 2006 according to USA Central Mean Time has had its morning ruined. If all this had occured after 10am I could forgive the basketball incident because 10am is a respectable Sunday time to rise and slowly begin your day.
I'm sure you're thinking I'm overreacting but I just think Sunday's should be respected.
So rollerblading was an interesting experience. Let's just say it's something I should work on if I want to regain any of the confidence I had with it when I was 10. It was fun though, I had a good time. And my body got an awesome workout. I am planning on going again!
Yesterday I worked and went out to dinner with Pat, Em and Alex. Matthew was at a friend's house playing. It was actually a really lovely night. The girls were so well behaved. I found my food a bit bland but it was filling.
So that's me for the moment. What am I actually doing tonight you ask?? Well all I want to do is be on the ferris wheel on Navy Pier at 11:30 so I can watch all of the fireworks, see the Chicago skyline and bring in 2007 in the air. That's it. Did I mention it's raining today???? Go figure! Just spoke to Sarah, could change plans to my on the 95th floor in the Signature Lounge of the John Hancock building. That sounds flash. And it's inside. Alright, am going to end this now so my bad mood can dissolve. Just breathe.

So the past couple of days have been busy with the kids. Yesterday e went to one of the Childrens Museums, that was insanely busy with everyone obviously having the same idea. I was a bit snappy today so wasn't handling things as wel as I could have. And Pat decided today was the day to go hard at Em for potty training so that was kind of gross because I was constantly petrified of her doing a wee on me when I was holding her.
Tonight I'm going roller blading at a rollerskating rink so I'm excited about that!!! If they ever get here... I'm now in a bit of a lull and tired.
Just realised I've time to go and get my pay before the girls get here so will post again on the weekend!

Wow, so Christmas has been and gone. Definitely wasn't a white one but was lovely all the same. I had a really nice day. Christmas Eve was touch and go because I had a bit of gastroand was unable to eat but that problem was fixed and I enjoyed the food of Christmas! The kids had a great time with all their new gifts, the major ones being a portable DVD player for Alex, a Nintendo Game Cube for Matthew and a kitchen set for Em. All of which got quite a workout! I got some lovely gifts from mum, dad and Rach plus Pat and the kids gave me much more than I'd anticipated plus her family gave me a lot of money which was very unexpected and I hadn't bought them anything, so I felt bad about that. Am going to sedn thank you cards to them all.
The kids now have a week and a half remaining of winter break and I'm hoping they will fly because being stuck in the house with 3 of them could easily begin to get on my nerves!
The passing of Christmas of course brings me even closer to returning. Over the weekend I went out and bought a new, bigger suitcase that I needed after doing a practise pack with my other one and realised I didn't have enough room. Don't want to start a serious countdown because I'm at a point now where it doesn't feel like I've been here for a year. The more time I spend with Em the more I realise that it's going to be a drastic change not to hold her at least once a day and have a conversation with her. Plus knowing she might not remember me is a hard one to deal with.
Mum and dad got a letter from RMIT saying that if I got accepted and didn't complete units 1 and 2 of math then I'd have to do a bridging course during my first year, am taking that as a possibility of being accepted. Could just be wishful thinking.
Apart from that not much else to report on. It's cold enough for snow but am hoping it doesn't occur as I don't fancy another dumping of it. No plans for New Years yet, need to call Sarah and ask if she wants to go to a house party at some super rich house near Kellie's. So if you read this Sarah and I haven't called give me a buzz!!
Hope everyone else had a great Christmas.

Whoopsie Daisy

I didn't realise that I haven't posted for a week. Lazy bones me. Terribly sorry if you're a faithful reader, I know how hard it can be when you're looking for a fix and it isn't being given. Not that I think I have my faithful readers. Anyway. The week.
I think it all went by in relatively normal fashion. On Friday I was tired, actually I wasn't going to bed til late most nights. On Wednesday night I'd turned the TV on and found that Mickey Blue Eyes was on. I love Hugh Grant. I couldn't remember what movie it was, but I saw Hugh Grant and knew I wouldn't be turning it off. The bit where's he's trying to talk with a New York mobster accent cracks me up, laying in bed I was in hysterics trying not to make noise therefore laughing with my body (involved high kicks in the air). That finished at 1:30am. Thursday night I finished my book. Finished at 1am. So by Friday was exhausted beyond comprehension so when I finished work I took a nap and woke at 6:30, thinking Pat had forgotten me so decided to just sleep til the next morning. Then she called and I met her and the kids at Portillos (great food) and then we went and drove through the Winter Wonderland in Vernon Hills. It's like 3 miles of Christmas lights. Was pretty cool. Haven't uploaded the pics yet.
After that I met Kel and Rodolfo and we went and saw The Pursuit of Happyness. Was good except it was long and because I hadn't anticipated to be seeing a movie I can't say I was thrilled with seeing it then (was almost falling asleep in the movies).
On Saturday I picked up Sarah and we went downtown to the Chicago History Museum. Was pretty good, well worth it for the small vintage Dior collection exhibit that they've got there at the moment. I don't understand why they make museums so damn big because it's impossible to see it all in a day. Glad I'm not going to go to the Field Museum (or have no plans to at the moment) because I'd really have to work out what I want to see before going there as that's probably quadruple the size of the CHM. Ran into Pat and the kids at the train platform, very weird! Was fun to see them though. After that Sarah showed me the park in her suburb which had Christmas lights in it, was very cool.
That night I was in bed, asleep by 9pm. I know it was a Saturday but I was exhausted and had a headache. Can't wait to see the osteo as it's (my back and neck) now getting to a very painful point.
Sunday I went and spent my Archiver's gift card that mum and dad sent me for Christmas with other gifts (didn't open them, not until Christmas day) and did a little scrapbooking and then went to Lorey and Keith's for their Christmas party. Ate far too much food then went and met Kel and Rodolfo at the mall. We then decided to go see The Holiday, which I'd been wanting to see. Was hilarious. I was in hysterics when Jude Law did the napkin face, I seemed to be the only one...
And now it's Monday again and I feel like I worked forever, even though it was 9 hours, I think it was just because I worked from 11-8.
So that's it from me for now. Think I am homesick, I'm finding it very difficult to go a week without speaking to home but soon enough I'll be there. Though it doesn't seem so close anymore.

Finished College

Thank freaking god. Tonight I actually felt ill from nerves because I really wanted to do well on this test. But the best part about finishing was I have Monday nights back and no more Do. Hagaman! The guy irritated me. Wasn't a very good teacher.
So now that's done I've 7 weekends left. Kellie and I discovered this on Saturday after the LCC meeting, that'll be another thing I'll be excited about being over and done with because since missing the last meeting because I wasn't feeling well Karen has been a bit of a bitch, but even when she's being rude she's still being so having an all out war with her would make me look bad because I'd look like the nasty person picking on the nice person.
On Monday it always feels like time is taking forever but come Thursday it feels like the weekend was just the day before.
Clearly with my ramblings I haven't been up to much. Finally started my D.C. scrapbook as it's a must to be finished before I leave. Want to send another box home but don't know if I can handle another expensive trip to the post office. Am going to investigate the prices from FedEx, DHL and UPS as they might be cheaper. MIGHT.
Oh I went sledding with Em today. Was great fun. She's completely insane. Had a few tantrums from her today, not sure what the go is.
Anyway, would post the pics from today's sledding but camera is down stairs and if I go down there then I won't be coming back up until the morning!
Have fun.

Times flying

Well I survived my 2 and a half days alone with the kids. It was tough, I definitely struggled in regards to almost falling asleep with Emily climbing all over me but I came out alive. I said to Lorey (the neighbour) the other night how I don't think I'll ever have kids, let alone 3 and how difficult it all is and she so cleverly pointed out that I don't just wake up one morning and have 3 kids (so true), you have kids and you raise them according to your likes and dislikes and have a schedule that works for the both of you going. It's one of the best things I've ever heard in regards to being an au pair and then having your own kids.

Now, I don't know if I mentioned that I registered with a babysitting website back home to get work and had a few nibbles but not much. So I found a position that starts in Feb so I emailed the family and ende dup speaking with the mum on the phone over the weekend. She has a little girl who will be 14 months old and needs someone for 2 and a half days a week. She's interviewing a couple of other people as well but last night she actually rang Pat for a reference, which I am taking as a good sign because to call America is an expensive thing and if the other two had been really good I wouldn't have blamed her for not bothering. At the same time, I'm not getting my hopes up because I am very aware of the disadvantage I have of not being able to have a face to face interview. But the thought of starting a job a week after I get home is comforting, even though I've gotten used to the idea of being the resident cook and house cleaner at home - i.e. living a life of leisure.

Have decided to send my grandparents on my mum's side a framed picture of me to go with their Christmas present. They've given me money through the year and a Christmas present and sending them just a tree ornament made me feel cheap. So I swallowed my pride and decided it was not vain to send them a nice picture of me, considering I haven't had many nice pictures before. It's not vain is it??? Rach always looks so good in pics that they probably have heaps of her, I think the last nice one they have of me is from my deb. I would say grad but my haircut turned the evening into a disaster and I didn't like it.

Will go now, I have a large desire to eat my way through a chocolate factory so need to get some prodcutivity going to try and squash that.

Oh, the pics attached of the of the "Troll Capital of the World". Complete let down as I wanted to go to a park where they had trolls under bridges and stuff but there was nothing like that! But I did check out the Mustard Museum. And froze my butt off!! The other pic is of the Capitol Building in Madison, WI.

Pics from the snow on Friday!!

Snowed In

So yesterday was an official Snow Day. On Thursday I thought we'd be getting snow, not an actual blizzard until late that night. Silly me. The airports for shut for more than 12 hours. It was completely insane. And the snow is right up to the door, too bad if you were worried about falling on the steps. So yesterday I went out in it a couple of times, going out while the blizzard was still going on wasn't fun, really unfun actually. But once it'd stopped and there were just drifts (I've got all this new snow terminology!) it was really nice. Obviously nothing like the snow I've encountered before because that's been at the ski fields, not in our front yard. We couldn't get out of our house until after 12 because the plough hadn't gone through, probably no point to go through if it's not stopped yet. It was a pretty amazing experience. And I love looking at it. I just went and looked at it before for when I woke up and there are bunny tracks in the snow!!

Anyway, not working today but am off to the doctor, my throat hurts and considering one of the neighbours has strep throat and I'm alone with the kids 3 days next week I doubt I'll have time to go to the then so figure I may as well today and hopefully find out it's just a sore throat. Might do some scrapbooking this arvo. Also have to get to the post office which I wasn't able to do yesterday!

Have a good weekend.

p.s. Tried to attach pics but it has decided not to work today so will keep trying over the next couple of days.